April 8, 2025 · 10:11 am

F1 drivers split on need for DRS change after Doohan crash

Sainz is keen for DRS to be automated, but not all drivers agree with him

Jack Doohan’s huge crash in FP2 at Suzuka has prompted a debate among his fellow Formula 1 drivers that saw views split even between directors of the GPDA.

The Alpine driver went off at Turn 1 after failing to manually close his DRS as he turned into the corner.

The DRS closes automatically when drivers lift off, but in cases where they are turning into a corner flat out, they have to do it themselves.

Over the years the obvious dangers inherent in that requirement, and the possibility that the DRS doesn’t close effectively enough with cars running right on the edge, have played a role in determining the locations of DRS zones.

Suzuka’s Turn 1 is one case where drivers have to do it, and after Doohan’s crash the subject came up in the drivers’ briefing that evening, with GPDA director Carlos Sainz citing his concerns.

There was a debate with the FIA about whether it was possible to introduce software that would allow the DRS to be switched off automatically based on location – in other words just before a corner – rather than purely on lifting off.

“Safety is still the main priority always with these cars, especially the speeds we’re doing,” said the Spaniard.

“You saw yesterday in any other era of F1 Jack is not walking today. So we need to keep making progress. If we are going to make the cars as fast as they are nowadays, we need to keep making progress with safety.

“And I felt I was quite vocal yesterday in saying, I’m surprised this hasn’t happened more often, because I’ve had moments where I’ve mis-pressed the DRS button and it stayed open, and it gives you a massive snap and a massive fright going into a corner like Turn 1 here, Shanghai Turn 1, Australia, Turn 9.

“We have too many of these corners where it’s down to a driver almost to close it, and down to a DRS to do a good job on recovery.

“And I’m afraid there hasn’t been enough of these crashes in order to prove that maybe we need to work on safety in this item. But I hope yesterday’s crash shows that we need to make something that automatically 100m, 50m before the braking it shuts, so you don’t get the chance for the driver to make a mistake, or the DRS to fail if it doesn’t close.

“And it gives you a bit of warning that if it hasn’t closed from the FIA, you still need to close it. So yeah, also going into next year with this downforce thing that they want to adjust, it’s important I think for us that we come up with something automatic.”

In contrast Sainz’s fellow GPDA director George Russell said the drivers should remain in charge of the DRS, and that there should not be a knee-jerk reaction to one incident.

“Obviously what happened to Jack was a big shunt, and very unfortunate,” said the Mercedes driver when I asked about the discussion.

“But I think it’s one of those things that you see happen once, and everybody will recognise, and this is probably the only corner of the whole calendar that it’s a problem. So I don’t think anything really needs [to be done].

“I think as drivers, you have responsibilities. We’ve got to go flat out, down the straight and turn into the corners and clicking a button to turn the DRS off is part of the job.

“We don’t want it to be automated, we’ve got to leave it down to the drivers. There’s already too many gadgets and assistance.”

Charles Leclerc meanwhile insisted he was neutral on the subject, while conceding that an automated system might allow the FIA to add zones where there currently are none due to safety concerns.

“I feel like if we have a system like this, I think we can maybe use it and have more DRS,” he said when I asked. “Like before Turn 1 in Silverstone, I think it’s a good example. And here before 130R are there’s a huge straight, and it’s a bit of a shame that we don’t use these kinds of straights to do it.

“But I also feel like it can be up to us. Also Turn 1 in Silverstone when we had it, I thought it was quite cool, because you had to be very brave into Turn 1 to keep the DRS, and there was something to gain out of it. I don’t mind either way.”

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April 7, 2025 · 10:33 am

How the Suzuka win showed why Verstappen “has got the number one on his car”

Verstappen was on brilliant form in Suzuka

Max Verstappen has scored some spectacular Grand Prix wins over his stellar career, but his 64th success was something special.

At times over the Japanese GP weekend it looked like Red Bull had the fourth fastest car, and Verstappen was clearly not happy with it.

However, he worked away at improving it with his engineer, and when it mattered in Q3 he banged in a perfect lap to surprise even himself and his team to pip the McLarens to pole.

Not for the first time he had flattered his car and squeezed out a lap time that probably no one else could have found. And on this occasion pole proved to be even more valuable than thought at the time.

As of Saturday there was still a suggestion that rain could have an impact on the race, which could have added an element on uncertainty. In the end it fizzled out in the morning and the track was dry throughout the afternoon.

And in such conditions pole at Suzuka is almost as important as it is at Monaco – if Verstappen could stay in front on the first lap, there was a decent chance he could remain there for the duration. And that’s how it turned out.

“What a great race, an incredible race for Max,” said team boss Christian Horner after the flag. “I think the majority of the hard work was done yesterday. When you look at, I guess 90% of the cars finished in the order that they started in. But it was a flat out sprint race today. There was very low degradation.

“We know the McLarens are very, very fast, and it needed Max to be inch perfect with two very fast McLarens right behind him. And for 53 laps, he made not a single mistake, and had the pace to cover them, keep them out of his DRS.

“He was particularly strong in Turn 11 and the last corner to keep that vital second gap, and had enough to cover whatever they could throw at us today.”

That 0.012s advantage over Norris was invaluable.

“It was absolutely inch perfect,” said Horner. “If you look at the overlays between him and Lando, you can see that they’re absolutely neck and neck. There’s tiny bits in it. Lando was good in Turn 6. Max was very strong in Degner One, in Turn 11 [the hairpin] Max again was strong there. Lando, a little bit better in Spoon.

“But the differentiator at the end of it came down to the last chicane. And he absolutely nailed the last chicane. And that was just enough.

“But it was in a car that the theoreticals were behind McLaren’s fastest lap. Max extracted every ounce of performance. McLaren didn’t get that obviously, yesterday. So that was the difference.”

Strategy was the one card that the McLaren could play to get ahead. Piastri pitted first from third place, and then Norris followed Verstappen in on the same lap. Despite Lando’s best efforts at the pit exit, they left in the same order.

“It was clear that pit stops were approaching,” said Horner. “McLaren elected to pit Oscar first. But prior to that, they called a dummy with Lando. That really to us didn’t make any sense, because he would just come out in traffic.

“So we stuck to our guns. We didn’t react to the dummy. They then pitted Oscar, and it was clear that they were going to pit Lando the following lap. So it was then a matter of covering Lando.

“We didn’t have a totally clean pit stop. We’ve got a reserve crew with two members missing this weekend, and Lando got close-ish at the exit, but it never looked alongside or anything like that.

“And thereafter, on the hard tyre for 30-odd laps Max had the pace to cover whatever McLaren could throw at us, and at different times. One minute it was Lando, the next minute, Oscar looked very quick. But as you could see, overtaking throughout the field was almost negligible.”

Horner acknowledged that juggling the interests of both drivers is not easy for McLaren, and potentially helps RBR.

“I guess the problem they have is they have two drivers that are fighting for the drivers’ championship. And I guess the difficulty they have is that they’ve made a bed where they’re going to let them race. That’s the compromise that inevitably comes with that.”

When I asked if even among his many wins this was one of Verstappen’s best performances across qualifying and the race, Horner agreed that it was.

“I think that’s one of Max’s best weekends that he’s had. We literally turned the car upside down set-up wise, he’s worked very hard with the engineering team.

“Finally, we were able to give him a car that he could make use of in Q3 yesterday, with the most stunning lap, and then convert that today in a hard fought victory in a straight fight.

“It puts him one point behind in the in the drivers’ championship. So we leave Japan still with plenty of work to do, but huge motivation.”

Along with getting second driver Yuki Tsunoda fully up to speed the other challenge that Red Bull faces is trying to start the weekend with the RB21 in a good place for Verstappen, rather than spend three practice sessions largely on experimentation.

It does potentially plant doubts about the simulation tools that the team uses when deciding the initial set-up of the car on a Friday.

“Inevitably, those questions always get asked, and the biggest sensor that you have in the car is the driver,” said Horner. “And I think all credit to the team this weekend, at the beginning the weekend, we looked like we were out the window.

“We managed to get the car into a decent window. And Max Verstappen demonstrated why he’s got the number one on the car.

“Inevitably, you’re always learning. Ride heights, weight distributions, wing levels, roll bars, almost every adjustment on the car we’ve been through this weekend.

“And it just demonstrates if you keep working hard and you never give up, anything is possible. And Max has been stunning this weekend, and demonstrated once again why I think he’s the best driver on the grid.”

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April 5, 2025 · 2:21 pm

The brutal honesty that will serve Antonelli well

Antonelli will start sixth in Japan on Sunday

Kimi Antonelli continues to impress as he works his way along a steep learning curve at Mercedes, and after a wet debut in Melbourne followed by a full race with a damaged floor in China he could have done with a straightforward weekend at his third attempt.

Instead he got Suzuka, a track he didn’t know – plans to do a Super Formula test late last year were abandoned due to illness – and which is one of the most difficult on the calendar.

After struggling to find his way over the three practice sessions he showed that he learned by being P8, P7 and P6 over the three qualifying decisions, those numbers somehow symbolising his overall rate of progress.

But what really caught the eye when he talked after the session was his brutal honesty about his own performance. He cited a lack of confidence in the free practice sessions, and took full responsibility for opting for a “safe” setup, in other words one with higher than optimal downforce.

That honesty is a quality that has helped endear him to the team and which will serve him well as he continues to progress.

“Happy with how the session went, but on the other side, disappointed,” he said when I asked him about it. “Because I had to make such a step in driving from free practices. I was very lost in practice. I really had no confidence to push more, and to progress.

“And I was like, kind of stuck from where I finished in FP1. I headed into qualifying with very little confidence, and having to make a really big step in driving. So overall I was getting there, step-by-step. But yeah, it definitely is a good lesson ahead of the next race.”

These days drivers do so much work in the sim that they could drive their first real laps of most tracks blindfold, but Suzuka isn’t quite that straightforward.

“The thing is, it’s definitely a really fast track,” he said. “It’s not easy as well, first sector especially, because it’s quite narrow. But you need to get the timing right with all the turning points. But as well I think also with the setup, we started quite safe, because I didn’t have confidence, so I needed to get confidence.

“But then as the track was improving and cooling down, I didn’t really had the courage as well to push the setup even further. So also, that is something that I learned for the next qualifyings. But overall I’m happy, because I felt like I maximized the result.”

He made it looks easy, but it wasn’t: “Mentally it was really tough, because when you’re kind of stuck there and you see that you really struggle to make steps, mentally it’s difficult. Especially because you see that you have to make such a step in all the sectors.

“It’s every corner you have to make a massive step in driving. So I really dug deep, and really tried to focus on what I had to do. And eventually it was a decent lap. Of course, far from perfect, but I cannot complain about it either.”

So how did he find that improvement?

“It was a mix of everything. What I really like to do is re-watching my lap, because I can see where maybe I do a wrong line, or where I could have done better. I was getting there, step-by-step.

“Also, I think using two sets in Q1 didn’t really help, but that was on me, because I didn’t do a good enough lap at the start. Because I think with two sets in Q3 it definitely could have helped me as well, to make a further step.”

Regarding the set-up chosen for qualifying he said: “It was not massively different, but definitely it was more safe. Because as I just said before, I had no confidence, and so definitely was more on the safe side, but definitely on the end of the quali it was a bit too safe.

“But that’s not on the team, it was my decision, because I was feeling good with it. I was getting the confidence back. Definitely in that last lap that I had decent confidence, I probably could have asked the team to push the setup a bit more on the edge.

“Melbourne was a really big test, the race. But I think on the mental side, this was a good test as well, because when you’re so far off in in three practices, not one free practice, all of them, it’s really hard mentally.

“And especially you go into qualifying and you’re uncertain of what you can achieve as a result. So, it was really good test mentally, and I was happy with how I reacted to it.”

He admitted that he would have had a decent head start had he done the Super Formula test as planned.

“Also that didn’t help, because I was meant to test, but I was ill, so I couldn’t really do anything. So I just went home after Abu Dhabi, because even in that post-season test, I wasn’t feeling very well, and I was meant to fly right after it, but I was too ill to go there and drive.

“So of course, it was unfortunate, because probably it could have helped, just to know the track a little bit more. But as I said before there’s still some disappointment with the performance, but at the same time, I cannot complain with how the session went.”

Kimi scored decent points in the wet in Australia, despite a spin, and he’s not afraid of more of the same. Pretty brave considering how tough Suzuka is in the wet…

“I wouldn’t mind some rain, maybe a bit of chaos at the front, but we’ll see tomorrow. I think we’ll see in the moment. But a lot of data to look at overnight in order to be ready for tomorrow.”

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April 5, 2025 · 2:11 am

F1 drivers highlight paddock toilets as number one problem

Photo dump – F1 drivers are not happy about paddock toilet facilities

The number one point of discussion in Friday’s Formula 1 drivers’ briefing in Suzuka was not kerbs or run-off areas but the state of paddock toilet facilities around the world.

You may think that I’m pulling your chain but the subject really did emerge and was extended into a chat about showers.

There is a serious point here in that drivers always spend the build-up to a race hydrating, and they factor in a comfort break between parking their cars on the grid and going to the national anthem ceremony.

One driver told me this morning that “a shit can be worth two-tenths” but he might have been little optimistic in his calculations.

At most tracks they simply return to their own garages for their personal pitstop, but there are some venues where they have to venture out into the public part of the paddock and potentially join a queue to use temporary facilities, with Melbourne and Montreal among those highlighted.

The problem is that if they are late to the national anthem they potentially face a penalty, something that the FIA has highlighted, and thus any time lost could be very costly. Drivers also pointed out to the FIA how they can be delayed by being doorstepped for TV interviews.

They are keen for the FIA to log the WC issue and add better pit building facilities to the guidelines for new venues.

GPDA director George Russell also mentioned the lack of shower facilities at many tracks. At European events team hospitality units usually have showers for the use of drivers, but they are not common at flyaway venues, and especially at temporary circuits.

However Russell’s plea didn’t get much traction amongst his colleagues, with one of them suggesting that circuits should ensure that there is a hair dryer just for George’s use…

The issue of facilities is not a new one. Max Mosley once told me that in the early days of FOCA he and Bernie Ecclestone delegated the job of paddock toilet inspector to none other than Frank Williams.

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April 5, 2025 · 12:33 am

Why is it so difficult for F1 drivers to switch teams?

Sauber is still working to make Nico Hulkenberg comfortable

We’ve heard a lot from Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz in recent weeks about how hard it is to switch teams and adapt to a new car with different systems.

That’s especially true in the case of a power unit swap. Hamilton and Sainz have been on either end of a Ferrari/Mercedes exchange, and both have commented on how much they have had to learn.

It’s easy to be a bit sceptical, but people perhaps forget how complex current F1 cars are, and how many tools they have that can be exploited by the drivers. It’s all about those marginal gains.

Even Nico Hulkenberg – who stuck with Ferrari power in going from Haas to Sauber and thus didn’t have to learn new PU systems – has had plenty of things to get used to, as the Swiss team’s performance director Stefano Sordo explains.

“I think one of the things that the driver obviously relates to, beside the behaviour of the car, is for example, the power steering and the steering ratio,” said Sordo when I asked him about the subject.

“Those are items that, especially Nico is quite sensitive to it, and he’s still trying to find the best compromise there. And very much you adapt power steering, the level of assistance, the ratio between steering wheel and wheels. It’s very much driver preference.

“So that’s one of the things that commentable, that he felt a decent difference. And while there is no difference in lap time, so if you run a simulation, there is obviously no difference lap time, the difference comes when the driver has to extract everything from the package.

“The same for throttle pedal, the stroke of the throttle pedal, the brake pedal it’s all these little things.”

Sordo says that it’s a work-in-progress: “We are adapting. We obviously changed the level of assistance based on his feedback from the Abu Dhabi test last year.

“We did few a modification to the throttle pedal, throttle pedal springs and this type of things. But we are still very much work in progress, because obviously he goes to another circuit and he keeps building feeling about the car.”

Esteban Ocon is another driver who has switched camps this year, and his Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu makes an interesting comment that perhaps adds an extra dimension to what Hamilton and Sainz are experiencing.

“He’s still learning, but he’s learning fast,” Komatsu said of Ocon. “These young drivers – Esteban, even though he’s experienced, he’s still 27. So those generations, they are fine.

“We’ve been dealing with people like Nico and Kevin [Magnussen]. We noticed this year, Ollie 19, Esteban 27, both of them are much more proactive in using tools. It’s nice to see, actually.”

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April 4, 2025 · 2:24 am

Why Hamilton needs more time to hit Ferrari sweet spot

Lewis Hamilton says he needs more time to adapt to Ferrari

The Chinese GP was a weekend of mixed emotions for Lewis Hamilton and Scuderia Ferrari. A superb win in the Saturday sprint was followed by a disappointing main qualifying session after a set-up change didn’t pay off.

Then an equally frustrating run to sixth place in the race ended with disqualification for excessive skid wear – something that happened to both Lewis and his new Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc at the 2023 US GP.

In a rush to judgement after Shanghai some observers were quick to suggest that things are going wrong at Ferrari, despite the sprint win coming in only Hamilton’s second weekend with the team.

The reality is that it’s just the start of a long journey, and the disqualification was just a blip that will be quickly overcome.

“I didn’t feel like any frustration or anything afterwards,” Lewis said when I asked him about it in Suzuka on Thursday. “It is what it is. Of course, we’ve gone through everything. I was at the factory on Wednesday, and lots of learns. We take the highs and lows together as a team.

“And obviously it’s not what everyone’s worked hard to have happen on a race weekend, no team, no engineer and no mechanic, puts all the effort in for something like that. But I’d say the most impressive thing is how the team has taken it, how they’ve worked, how they’ve churned through the data, and how we progress from here is most important.”

Hamilton has no time for the critics, and he knows he needs more time.

“I saw someone sent me something of whether I’m losing faith in the team, which is complete rubbish. I have absolute 100% faith in this team. I think there was obviously a huge amount of hype at the beginning of the year, and I don’t know if everyone was expecting us to be winning from race one, and winning a championship in our first year.

“That wasn’t my expectation. I know that I’m coming into a new culture, a new team, and it’s going to take time.

“I’ve spent the past two months just observing how the team works in comparison to the other two teams that I’ve worked at, and through this past week, I’ve been able to make notes and create pointers of areas that I feel that we can improve on, and that will continue through the year, we learn More and more about each other.”

Hamilton stresses that he has much to learn, and his view is echoed by Carlos Sainz, who admits it will take time for him to feel comfortable at Williams.

“I don’t feel like I’m driving this like I drove my last car,” said Lewis. “For me, it’s just understanding as I said, the technical side and understanding of the all the tools that I have. It likes to be driven differently. But also I think there is a general lack of understanding of what we do back there.

“Outside of that garage I think most people completely underestimate what we actually do, and when we’re talking about setup and changes that we’re making, all the different graphs that you’re looking at for through corner balance, mechanical balance, floor, balance, all these different things that we’re trying to play with and finesse through a weekend.

“After analysing after the last two races, you’ve got the first race, but I generally didn’t feel great in the car at the beginning, but it wasn’t too bad on the first two days. And the Sunday was the first time I’d ever driven the car in the rain. And I was learning a lot throughout the race.

“Then in the last race, that was the first time I’d actually done a long run. Every other driver here pretty much got to do the Abu Dhabi test and try the 2025 tyre. I didn’t. When we went into the race run in Bahrain, and the car broke down, so I didn’t actually get to do a long run on any of the tyres. And so the sprint race was the first time I’d actually done a 20-lap stint on the tyre. And then in the race was the first time I’d ever tried the C2.

“So I was just learning that through the race. You don’t just put the tyre on and know what it’s going to do.

“So I definitely feel like I was starting to feel the onwards effect of not being able to do the test at the end of the year. And so in reflection, actually I’m quite happy at how I’ve adapted in just those two races. But definitely got a lot of work to do to make sure that it’s better moving forwards.”

Hamilton is adamant that China could easily have gone differently.

“I think if we just left the car probably alone, or actually the step that we did take was an improvement, I think could have qualified in the top three, which would then have had a much different result, most likely.

“But it wasn’t the case, and it was really difficult to drive from the moment we went out in qualifying, and then it was the same balance on the Sunday. So just had to persevere with it.

“And in this period of time, I’m not directing my engineers. I mean more so probably when I was at Mercedes, obviously I knew the car. I knew all the tools. So it’s kind of like, this is where I want to go. This is what I want to do more often than not.

“I didn’t always get it right, but as we’re here, kind of making notes, and then you have to take a lot of the guidance from those who have spent time with all the different World Champions before me.

“And then as a team, we didn’t make the right choice for quali on either car. What was interesting is the improved balance that Charles had with the damage to his car. Was fascinating to see. It was a big, big improvement, to say the least!”

Suzuka is one of Hamilton’s favourite tracks, and it will be interesting to see how he can come to grips with the car over the three practice sessions.

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March 27, 2025 · 9:10 am

Horner: Red Bull has “duty of care” to protect Lawson

Lawson is returning to VCARB for Suzuka

Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner says that Red Bull has swapped Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson because it has a “duty of care to protect and develop” the Kiwi driver after his difficult start to 2025.

After just two races with the senior team Lawson returns to the VCARB team for whom he did 11 races across the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

Tsunoda has been parachuted into the RBR team for his home race at Suzuka after the team exercised what it termed a “driver rotation.”

The Japanese driver has just a week to prepare for his debut with the team having done a day in the RB20 at the Abu test in December

“It has been difficult to see Liam struggle with the RB21 at the first two races and as a result we have collectively taken the decision to make an early switch,” said Horner.

“We came into the 2025 season, with two ambitions, to retain the World Drivers’ Championship and to reclaim the World Constructors’ title and this is a purely sporting decision. We acknowledge there is a lot of work to be done with the RB21 and Yuki’s experience will prove highly beneficial in helping to develop the current car.

“We welcome him to the team and are looking forward to seeing him behind the wheel of the RB21. We have a duty of care to protect and develop Liam and together, we see that after such a difficult start, it makes sense to act quickly so Liam can gain experience, as he continues his F1 career with Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, an environment and a team he knows very well.”

Racing Bulls boss Laurent Mekies made it clear that he was pleased to see Tsunoda get a chance.

“We’re incredibly proud of Yuki earning his well-deserved move to Oracle Red Bull Racing,” he said. “His progress last year, and more recently from the very start of 2025, has been nothing less than sensational. Personally, and collectively, it has been an immense privilege to witness those progresses for all of us in Faenza and in Milton Keynes.

“Yuki’s energy and positivity has lightened up every corner of our factories and of our garage and he will always be a Racing Bull! We wish him all the success he deserves at ORBR. Everyone here at VCARB is looking forward to working hard with Liam to give him the best environment possible for him to shine in our car and to express the talent we all know he has.

“He fit in so well last year, and we cannot wait to challenge ourselves and grow as a team. With Isack having started so strongly with us already, we know we have a young and strong lineup.”

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March 27, 2025 · 7:17 am

Bottas has first McLaren F1 test at Barcelona

Bottas is testing a McLaren in Barcelona today

Valtteri Bottas is getting his first ever run in a McLaren Formula 1 car with a TPC test at the Barcelona circuit today as part of his role as Mercedes reserve driver.

As with previous Mercedes reserves his job extends to him also being available to the marque’s customer teams.

Aston Martin splits the reserve role between Felipe Drugovich and Stoffel Vandoorne, but Bottas is on standby for both McLaren and Williams.

Unusually for an experienced reserve driver Bottas has committed to being present at all 24 races this season, in essence because his availability to three teams has increased the chances of an opportunity arising at some stage.

Like Aston some teams split the reserve role, with one driver at the track on race weekends, and the other usually working in the sim.

The run in the McLaren MCL60 is simply a chance for him to familiarise himself with the Woking team and the car controls should he be called on at some stage this season.

It will be his first track outing since his final race with Sauber at the end of last season.

Bottas is expected to test a Mercedes at some stage this year, although thus far there are no firm plans for him to be given a run by Williams, for whom he raced in 2012-2016.

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March 24, 2025 · 1:02 pm

McLaren: Norris brake issue was “not acceptable”

Norris had to manage a brake issue for the last third of the Chinese GP

An otherwise perfect Sunday for McLaren in China was spoiled by a brake issue that Lando Norris had to manage for the last part of the race.

The team came away with a welcome one-two result led by Oscar Piastri after a difficult sprint the previous day, but a long brake pedal for Norris created some tension.

Paradoxically at the same time the situation also made the team’s life easier in terms of any stress associated with allowing the two drivers to race, as it prevented Norris from being able to fight with Piastri.

Nevertheless team principal Andrea Stella made it clear that any sort of reliability issue was “not acceptable” in the context of the World Championship fight.

“We have been tense at the pitwall, and I’m sure the entire team and the fans, because we had one issue on Lando’s car with a brake pedal that we needed to manage over the last 20 laps,” said the Italian.

“Lando and the team did a very good job in being in the loop as to how to adapt the driving style to this kind of problem, which then got worse and worse through the race, and put the entire result at risk, which is obviously just not acceptable from a reliability point of view. We need to do better.

“And this will be one of the points that we will definitely re-emphasise to the entire team that has worked at an incredibly high level, but we cannot have issues that put these sort of results at risk.

He added: “The brake pedal was going long, and what we needed to do is we needed to avoid more and more the peak pressure.

“So he needed to brake with less and less and less peak pressure, to the point that over the final laps, he was just costing for a long time off the throttle, and then applying just a minimum amount of brake pressure to stop the car and go around the corner.”

Stella declined to elaborate on exactly what the root cause of the issue was.

“We understand what the problem is, which I don’t disclose for IP reasons, but fundamentally, it had to do with a leak in one of the components, not the brake line, but somewhere else.

“And the main action required was to limit the peak brake pressure, or like just you could brake, but very, very gently.

“So what was a 100 metre braking, now it became 200 metres, and towards the end, it was a 300 metres, because Lando needed to lift the throttle, cost to a certain speed and then apply very gentle brake pressure. That was to avoid that leak to become too fast.”

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March 20, 2025 · 10:55 am

Lewis Hamilton: “Not the moment to throw the toys out of the pram”

Hamilton had to settle for 10th place in Melbourne

Lewis Hamilton says it’s “not the moment to throw the toys out of the pram” and insists that his Ferrari Formula 1 team should not be defined by its difficult race in Australia.

Hamilton qualified eighth in Melbourne, a place behind team mate Charles Leclerc. After a bad decision to stay on slicks cost both men a chance to make progress they finished eighth and 10th, with the Monesgasque driver still ahead.

Hamilton has made no secret of the fact that he still has a lot of work to do as he learns about the team and the car.

“We’re just going to set the car up a bit different this weekend,” he said in Shanghai. “So to this point, I think I’m still having to witness and take a view and see how the team operates.

“I’m still learning, it’s the first weekend to see how they operate on a race weekend – it’s different to testing – how they like to set the car up, the changes they like to make during the weekends.”

He added: “I think as I get more and more comfortable and more knowledgeable about the car, I can start making more decisions, and say, actually, this is the setup change I want to go with.

“So already this weekend I’m having those discussions, and I’m going to lean a little bit more with adding my experience, hopefully there’s a bit more in it. But they’ve got a lot of experience already.

“And yep, it wasn’t the race that we wanted. It’s not the moment to throw the toys out of the pram. It is what it is. One small thing could have made a big difference in our result. But we move forwards.

“Everyone’s still motivated. You’ve got everyone here with their heads high, and I think that the energy is still good in the garage. We’re not going to be defined by that one race.”

Hamilton’s radio conversations with race engineer Ricardo Adami attracted a lot of comment in Australia after he asked several times to be left to it.

The pair are still discovering the most efficient way to communicate, and when I asked how that process is going Hamilton was keen to downplay the subject.

“Naturally, everyone overegged it,” he said. “It was literally just a back and forth. I was very polite in how I suggested it. I said, ‘leave it to me, please.’ I wasn’t saying ‘FU,’ I wasn’t swearing.

“And at that point I was really struggling with the car, and I needed full focus on these couple of things. We’re getting to know each other. He’s obviously had two champions or more in the past, and there’s no issues between us. Go and listen to the radio calls with others and their engineers – far worse, far worse.

“The conversations that Max has within engineer over the years, the abuse that the poor guy’s taken, and you never write about it, but you write about the smallest little discussion I have with mine. Ultimately we’re we’re literally just getting to know each other.

“So afterwards I’m like, ‘Hey, bro, I don’t need that bit of information. But if you want to give me this, this is the place I’d like to do it. This is how I’m feeling in the car and at these points, this is when I do and don’t need the information.’

“And it’s that’s what it’s about. There’s no issues, and it’s done with a smiley face. And we move forward.”

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